Gaming

Hideo Kojima and Konami appear to be parting ways [Updated]

Konami says Kojima is still working on MGSV, but questions remain after that.

Kyle Orland – Mar 20, 2015 11:10 am | 59

Kojima in a 2001 picture taken at Konami's office tower.

Further Update: In a follow-up statement posted by Konami, Kojima is quoted as saying “I want to reassure fans that I am 100% involved and will continue working on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; I’m determined to make it the greatest game I’ve directed to date. Don’t miss it!”

The new statement once again leaves Kojima out of discussions of the next Metal Gear game, however, and mentions conducting interviews for new staff to lead that development.

Update: In a tweet on the new official Metal Gear Twitter account, Konami has assured fans that “despite rumors, MGSV:TPP-written, designed, directed & produced by Mr.Kojima [sic] is still on track. The team’s hard at work. Pls support them!”

Meanwhile, in a separate statement on the Konami web site, the publisher reconfirmed Metal Gear Solid V‘s planned September 2 release date and promised “Hideo Kojima will remain involved throughout.”

The statement also assures that Konami will retain the rights to “Metal Gear” in the future (something that was never really in doubt), and has already committed to another title in the series. Kojima’s involvement in that future title is left tellingly unremarked, and Konami says it “will be conducting auditions for main staff to lead the development” of the game, suggesting a change in leadership for the series might be afoot.

While this new statement is a good indication that Kojima will not immediately be parting ways with Konami, it does little to lessen the impression that he may be leaving the company soon after Metal Gear Solid V is complete.

Original Story

A number of strange moves from Japanese publisher Konami and studio Kojima Productions seem to be pointing toward famed Metal Gear Solid Director Hideo Kojima leaving his long time corporate parent or at the very least transitioning to a very different role within the company.

The rumors began when Internet forum-goers noticed that Kojima is no longer listed as an executive on Konami’s corporate page (though he’s still listed as “Executive Content Officer” on the Corporate Profile section of the site). Earlier this month, Konami announced it was restructuring towards “a headquarters-controlled system,” with a number of new divisions and new titles for old executives, though Kojima wasn’t said to be affected by that move at the time.

In addition, the Kojima Productions W eb page and Twitter account now redirect users to more generalized Metal Gear Solid portals, without any Kojima branding at all. The studio known as Kojima Productions Los Angeles as recently as last month, which worked primarily on Metal Gear Online, is now being called Konami Los Angeles Studio on the website, as well.

As if that wasn’t enough strangeness, the official Web pages for a number of Kojima’s games—including Metal Gear Solid V, Ground Zeroes, and Legacy Collection have been updated to remove the usual notes indicating they are “Presented by Kojima Productions” and “A Hideo Kojima Game” (archived versions showing this branding are available here and here).

As all this has been shaking out, Gamespot cites an unnamed “inside source” in reporting that Kojima Studios will likely disband after work on Metal Gear Solid V is complete and the current contract ends in December. Gamespot’s source also reports that Kojima Studios employees are now essentially contractors with limited access to Konami resources.

Konami offered a short statement to Eurogamer and VideoGamer.com, simply stating that “Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.” That’s technically a denial that Kojima has left the company, but not the strongest possible statement that everything is operating as normal at Konami (the publisher has yet to respond to a request for comment from Ars).

So far this all adds up to a lot of smoke, but we still can’t be sure there’s any actual fire here. It’s possible that Kojima and Konami are indeed on the verge of parting ways, but it’s also possible everyone is over-interpreting the public signs of an internal restructuring that simply absorbs Kojima’s branded sub-studio into larger oversight of the main company.

Even if Kojima is leaving Konami after a decades-long career there, it’s still unclear whose decision it was to sever the relationship. Kojima himself has been publicly silent on the matter, but the designer tweeted the cryptic message “Heading off” a few days ago, alongside an image of Snake entering a helicopter.

The enigmatic director isn’t above public head fakes to obscure his true direction: the game that became Metal Gear Solid V was originally announced as an unrelated project called The Phantom Pain, and Kojima’s involvement with upcoming reboot Silent Hills was hidden deep within a “playable trailer” called P.T. Kojima has also suggested numerous times that he was done working on Metal Gear Solid over the past 15 years but has continued to shepherd the series across four PlayStation systems now (with plans to return the series to PC this year as well).

It’s a very odd situation, and one we’re still struggling to make sense of. For now, you know what we know, and we’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor

Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.

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